The Red Matter Paradigm
by JoslynDanei
Summary: "Dr. Cooper is known for his love of science and mathematical equations...and his writhing dislike of liberal arts. But what happens when his world is forcibly intruded upon by an expert in such areas?" A FanFic filled with twists, laughs & chemistry c;
1. The Alteration of Scientific Conduct

**The Red Matter Paradigm **_By Joslyn DJ_

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><p><em><span>Soundtrack<span>:_ _"Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" Coldplay -_ _"1901" Phoenix_

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><p><strong><span>Prologue<span>**

·

_September in California was a beautiful time of year..._

Sunshine, a cool breeze, and a bright blue sky with puffy white clouds filled her senses as she stepped outside. Man, what a great day! Everything was lining up for her.

She had finished all the paperwork yesterday. Now it was time to drive to L.A. and check out the University where she would be completing her education.

She'd need to find a place to live for a little while until she sorted out living arrangements near campus… Good thing her cousin lived in Pasadena!

She could hardly believe it was happening, having grown up in a semi-small town off the coast, now here she was, ready to hit the road en-route to one of the biggest cities in the world!

Her icy, blue-green eyes squinted up at the sky, the young woman taking in a breath of the fresh autumn air before unlocking her car and throwing her luggage in the back, turning the key, engine revving to life. First order of business? Roll down the windows and pick a CD to blast on the way to L.A. County!

_· ¤ ·_

Back at the apartment…

Leonard had finished sorting through his e-mails and organizing his files on his usb drives; he had everything he'd need for the weekend. Swallowing nervously, he glanced over his shoulder. Usually he did the sneaking up on his roommate, but you can never be too safe-

"Leonard, what are you doing at my desk?" The tall, brown-haired physicist crossed his arms from behind him, standing on the other side of his friend, causing him to jolt in his seat.

"What? Oh! Sorry Sheldon… Just had to copy some files to take with me to work." He laughed nervously, stuffing the flash drive in his pocket before grabbing his coat and stepping rather quickly towards the door. "See you later!" He blurted out, his friend blinking after him in bewilderment. What was that about?

Turning back to his desk, the blue-eyed genius sat down contentedly, a small smile playing on his lips. This was going to be a great week… Good weather, structured routine, "Oh yes." he sighed happily.

_·_

_"Definitely a great week."_

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><p><em>· ¤ ·<em>

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 1<span>**

The Alteration of Scientific Conduct

·

_Knock, knock, knock…_

The familiar three-part sound resonated on the solid wood of the apartment door, it's occupant nonchalantly rising from her seat as she waited to hear her name followed by two repetitions of the knock-and-call she had grown to know so well.

But not today… this time it was different. She tilted her blond head, lips pursed in a frown as she went to the door and opened it. "Hello?" She was greeted by her smiling neighbor, Leonard, and an even shorter person-something she thought to be an impossible feat-standing beside him. "Hey, Penny. I wanted to introduce you to someone, and get your advice on something." The lenses of his glasses glinted in the artificial light of the hall as he adjusted them, looking to the young woman on his right.

"This is my cousin, Sienna." He held out his arm to sort of present the girl for review. "Hello there!" The young girl said in an uppity tone, obviously happy to know the girl across the hall wasn't a figment of Leonard's imagination or the fanciful tales when she had heard their phone call earlier that week.

Giving an outgoing grin, Penny held out her hand to shake the hand of the female before her. "Pleasure to meet you! My name is Penny. Would you guys like to come in?" She asked, her casual attire of sweatpants, tank top and messy bun indicating it was her day off. "Sure, but I can only stay for a minute." Leonard replied as he stepped forward to Penny's offer, closing the door behind Sienna and himself.

"Alright, no problem." Their host patted the cushion of her couch as she passed it-signaling for them to sit-and then went into her kitchen and opened the fridge. "Can I get you anything?" She looked at them as the question left her mouth, before bending down to peer inside at the chilled shelves of groceries, listing off a few options. Coke, water, Dr. Pepper, vodka-oh wait, ignore that last one. Not exactly the type of impression she wanted to make on a new guest, even though it was just one of Leonard's relative.

"A coke sounds good." Leonard replied with a slight shrug, before looking to his cousin. "Would you like one?" He asked, as if the young woman needed reassuring that it was ok to accept the offer. She smiled at him in thanks for the go-ahead, then nodded and chimed in. "A Dr. Pepper would be great, thanks!" Her alto tone ran smoothly with the words as she sat down on the comfortable couch. She looked around the room, taking note of the rather pleasant color scheme of the environment.

This girl must have good taste, her second favorite color was the primary theme in the decorations she saw, with dashes here and there of her first favorite.  
><em>The world needs more purple…<em> She thought to herself, smiling again at Penny as she was handed a can of the soda she requested, before the blond plopped down on the other end of the couch. "So what's up?"

Leonard rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, you see…" He began, attempting to continue his sentence, stumbling over consonants and stuttering over syllables, until his cousin sighed in exasperation and bent the tab off her soda can, proceeding to toss it at him. The aluminum bounced off his glasses with a small 'tink' and a grumble from the nerd wearing the lenses.

"Leonard received an e-mail from an old friend of his that lives out of state. His friend-Aaron-knows about Leonard's work with experimental physics and offered him money to help him with some research." Sienna explained, reclining in her seat after taking a sip of soda, setting the can down on the coffee table.

"Oh how cool!" Penny commented, pulling her feet up under her where she sat, before blinking curiously at Leonard's expression. It very clearly depicted his opinion on the matter, along with the words:

"No, not cool. It's very not cool. Sheldon hates the guy, so I haven't told him I'm leaving yet…" The blond frowned. "Oh… Isn't that going to be a problem?" She asked, thinking of the tall wackadoodle who shared the apartment with Leonard. "Yes… That's where I need your advice." Leonard began his explanation, swallowing down some coca-cola before continuing to speak.

"Sienna is transferring to a school near here. She graduated Monterey Peninsula College with a 4.0 GPA with honors and a degree in Graphic Arts and Theology. Now she's going to UCLA to study for a PhD in Philosophy." He said, the young woman smiling as Penny gasped.

"Ooh! You must have an amazing creative mind." She spoke in a praising tone. Having an artist in the building was a refreshing change of pace compared to the numbers, formulas and algorithms she had to see on a near-daily basis at the guys' apartment.

"Why thank you!" Sienna grinned, shrugging and muttering an 'I suppose so' in a slightly shy tone. She didn't like bragging about it, she just loved learning! ...and writing, and researching, and drawing, and…

"Yes, but here's the problem." Leonard sighed. "Sheldon is rather anti-religious because of his mom's...well...extremities with it. I'm afraid that if I walk in there, blurt out that I'm going to help a guy whose guts he hates and leave my room to the care of a hopeless romantic in love with art and theology, he's going to tear apart Sienna's mind with calculations attempting to disprove everything she believes in, quite possibly down to her very existence!" Leonard looked a bit exasperated, causing his cousin to frown.

"I don't know what to do. She already has all her luggage waiting outside, and I need to get to work. I was hoping you might be able to introduce them and somehow soften the blow?" His dark eyes looked hopeful, Penny blinking in mild surprise. "Well, okay, but I wouldn't have a clue of what to say… "Hey Sheldon, this girl is going to be sleeping in your apartment. Play nice and let her make pretty things"? I can't see him adjusting to that much better than the flat-out truth, honestly..." The blond mused.

Her curly haired friend lowered his head in slight defeat, resting his chin in his palm. "It's such a bummer, too. The whole reason I offered her to stay at my place in my absence was because I felt like she'd actually be able to put up with him and make a good conversationalist for that Vulcan. She's quite the young intellectual in her field-and a bit of a sci-fi nerd/gamer on top of that-problem is Sheldon views it as a field of incompetence and whimsy."

"Hey! I'm still in the room." Sienna grumbled, furrowing her brow at the physicist. "Sorry, Sienna…" He sighed, giving her a weak smile. "But Dr. Cooper isn't exactly the most gracious admirer of the liberal arts or anything related to religion." They sat in thoughtful silence a moment, Leonard looking at his watch and tensing.

About ten minutes later, he was fumbling with the doorknob in a hurry, leaving with a 'thanks for your help Penny, I'll leave her in your care!' before rushing downstairs. He was already running late for work as it was, and the annoying text from Sheldon-who had been waiting exactly 4 minutes and 23.7 seconds outside-only seemed to add more tension to the whole situation in his mind.

·

To anyone outside their friend circle, it wouldn't seem like such a big deal, introducing two people from contrasting positions. But anyone outside their friend circle was essentially considered a neanderthal to the one, and predictably uninspired to the other. It was a sort of clash of the titans, if you will; though the male overshadowed the female by a good 10 inches, and she could probably bench-press his weight in her sleep... but that's besides the point.

· ¤ ·

"Wow... This is unbelievable!" Penny swooned, turning the canvas around and around, staring at it with a tilted head. "I can't even tell which way is supposed to be up! No matter what angle..." She turned it again, "it looks right! How do you make stuff like this?" The blond quickly turned to her new-made friend, Sienna, the young woman bashfully grinning.

"Well that was the goal." She chuckled lightly. "It's a technique called 'inverse illusion'. Here, I worked out some formulas for placement..." She paused, her grin turning a tad cynical. "I know, math in art? I hate it too." She laughed, before continuing. "Anyway. I basically overlaid a bunch of inverse illusions of abstract designs to make it look like that. Quite a trip, huh?"

Penny gaped at it. She couldn't believe this girl had combined math with art. Do people even do that? Aw heck, what did she know about the stuff? She came from Nebraska. Lord knows they could use some more art culture over there. "Well, I love it Sienna. It's amazing!" She set the small canvas down by the girls luggage.

"Thanks so much! Wanna' see some more?" Sienna offered as she pulled out her laptop, opening up other documents to show Penny, the waitress eager to look at other artworks the girl had made.They poured over files of artworks and papers, philosophy, theology, paintings and graphics all neatly organized in folders on the girl's spare drive.

Next, Penny was shown some websites Sienna had made. She was flabbergasted when the artist showed her the code, giving her a double-take as Sienna explained she had written the entire thing out. Man, she had no idea so much went into webpages like that! The most she ever did was google a nice pair of shoes to complete her wardrobe...

Pulling out one last thing to show from her suitcase, Sienna held a small frosted glass box. She opened it carefully, some expensive jewelry tucked away in little compartments inside. She lifted the faux mirror bottom of the container and pulled out 3 nearly paper-thin sheets of glass. "These are my best works..." She said in a near-hushed tone, a light dancing in her eyes.

The glass panels had an abstract, bursting pattern scattered across them in the richest, brightest hues of sky blue and indigo. One looked like smoke frozen in a crystal, two dimensional prison. Another like flowers bursting with falling petals scattered around them, and the third purely abstract, almost resembling the scars and craters on the moon.

"It was a very expensive process and had many failures. After weeks of working on it, I got these as a result." Sienna let Penny hold one, the waitress stunned at how light they were. "These are gorgeous! I can't even begin to imagine how you've made them... I've never seen anything like it!"

"It's what we do." She smiled, speaking for artists in general. The most commonly shared goal of nearly every artist was to be innovative-push the boundaries and break the rules-which is what made formulas like 'the golden mean' and 'rule of thirds' in art so ironic at times.

The way everything mingled in numbers and emotion, a delicate dance of planned spontaneity... She loved it. It gave her a thrill that surpassed words.

·

_To her, art was just that... __Pure serendipity._


	2. The Introduction of Foreign Elements

**The Red Matter Paradigm** _By Joslyn DJ_

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><p><em>Soundtrack<em>_:_ _"Community Medley" Ludwig Goransson - __"Eyes" Peter Bjorn and John_

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 2<span>**

The Introduction of Foreign Elements

·

_Tick, Tock, Tick..._

Sienna waited patiently on the couch at Penny's, phone in her hand. The blond had come up with a clever plot of taking Dr. Cooper out to lunch so Sienna could get all moved in and settled before they got back, then the girls could have a nice meet-and-greet with him and oh look, she was already settled! No going back now…

She had found it quite humorous that Penny went to such lengths to help her friend 'adjust' to a transition in his apartment. Leonard had told her crazy stories over the past few years, but her cousin did tend to exaggerate when it came to his story-tellings… So it was hard for her to accept that it was possible that he hand't exaggerated at all about his roommate.

Either way, she was just waiting on a text from Penny to let her know they had left the building, and within a few minutes the message came. Sienna grabbed her luggage and rolled it across the hall, stepping into the apartment.

"Wow, it's nice…" She murmured, setting the luggage down by the door, closing it behind her as she looked around. Very neat and organized, and surprisingly well-furnished. The green lights over the kitchen counter were interesting…

· ¤ ·

Penny sighed, dragging a reluctant Sheldon to the Cheesecake factory. "Come on, Sheldon! Can't I just take you to lunch with me without getting grilled?" She asked, blowing her blond bangs out of her face with an annoyed huff.

"In those pants?" Sheldon asked in a high, tense tone. She never went out to lunch in sweat pants. "Penny, you never go out in your sweat pants!" He reiterated his thoughts aloud, "Sweat pants mean it's your day off. Sweat pants mean leftovers and ice cream. Sweat pants-"

"OK I get it!" The waitress threw up her hands in frustration. "I get it, Sheldon! I'm not supposed to be wearing sweat pants!"

He blinked at her, sighing and crossing his arms. "No, actually, you don't get it Penny. The error isn't you wearing the sweat pants, it's the location surrounding them." He gestured to the restaurant, earning an eye roll from the girl.

"Just try to be pleasant for 30 minutes so we can eat and get back, ok?" She gave him a look that expressed she meant business, and thankfully the physicist backed down. He may not be well equipped to handle social interactions fluently or understand emotions, but he knew a 'back down or else' look from the Nebraskan when he saw one.

She smiled sweetly at him. "There, better already!" She said before opening the door, Sheldon holding it open to let her through and followed her in.

· ¤ ·

Fresh bedding, dresser filled with her things, and the small desk covered with her electronics, papers and folders, Sienna was comfortable and all settled in her cousin's room. Deciding to explore a bit, she exited the room and checked out the bathroom, her bag of toiletries with her. She blinked at the tape on the floor in mild bewilderment, before looking around, finding a good place to set down her toiletries bag near the sink.

She went out of the hall and into the kitchen, opening cupboards to get acquainted with what belonged where, smiling at the labels. 'Leonard was right about that one…' She thought, plainly amused by the organization. It was over the top, and she loved it. Just because she was an artist, didn't mean she din't have some OCD-like quirks of her own. She was willing to admit it… Label-makers make her happy.

Nodding in approval, she went over to the couch and plopped down in the middle. She usually ended up there due to being the most petite out of whatever group she was socializing with, and knowing that her cousin-who was considered rather short-was much shorter than Sheldon, she was sure this was going to be her spot.

Glancing around the room, she swung her legs slightly in a bored manner, looking back down the hall. Curiosity was tugging at her. 'They say you can tell a lot about a person by their room…' She mused, tilting her head in thought. One peak should't hurt…

· ¤ ·

"Penny," Sheldon began in a slightly alarmed tone, "we need to leave right now."

"What? Why?" She stared at him in confusion, halfway through her delicious burger. "I've got a refill coming!" She went on in a slightly whining tone.

"I understand your basic need for hydration in order to survive," He said in a near-sigh, head tilting slightly as he set his hands down beside his plate, continuing "but to quote a favorite work of mine by Stan Lee, 'my spidey-senses are tingling', and we need to get back to the apartment now."

A pause fell over the table, the girl staring at him with a dull 'you gotta' be kidding me' gaze, but she saw the boyish worry in his eyes, the tense jaw of an uncomfortable, quirky adult that seemed out of place in his own body… She sighed. Yeah, there wasn't going to be any talking him out of this one. 'Dang he's good…' She thought, setting down the burger and asking her coworker who brought her drink, to get them a couple of containers and a to-go cup.

Sheldon gave a youthful, small smile. He quickly but neatly put away his leftovers in the container, flinching at how Penny threw her burger into her container and dumped the fries on top of it. He contemplated commenting on it, but not today. There were more important things at stake!

He stood with an air of determination that earned an 'oh brother' from the girl, before leading the way out of the restaurant after they had paid.

· ¤ ·

Sienna's icy gaze scanned the room. Left to right, top to bottom. She smirked as she remembered the lectures in college on how the human mind psychologically takes in imagery. 'They fixed your brain when you were young…' She smirked and chuckled lightly at the song-reference that came to mind, before stepping in.

She looked at the figurines and comics, mixed in with wordy books and folders holding records of experimentations and formulas that had been translated from his white-boards to file.

His room was incredibly neat and orderly, the bed fixed in a way that made it look like she was in a room at the Marriott. 'What's with all the plaid?' She thought, noticing the robe hanging on the back of his door. She glanced around-as if anyone was watching?-and cracked the closet open, eyebrows raising in surprise. "Dear God…" She exclaimed, eyes burning at the sight.

"This guy is supposed to be a genius? Talk about lack of color-coordination! What an uninspired person…" She grumbled, closing the closet quickly. She wasn't sure she could stomach anymore of that…

Suddenly, the muffled sound of distant voices reached her ears, and she quickly darted out of the room-closing the door behind her-and ran over to the couch, plopping down on the middle cushion. They were back sooner than expected, but she had had plenty of time to get settled and acquainted with the apartment; mission success!

· ¤ ·

"Well, I have a surprise for you…" Penny began, stepping up the last couple steps of the stairs to the apartment, Sheldon looking impatient and mildly exasperated. "Really, Penny? Do we have to go over this again?" He sighed, having already explained to her his desire to not be bound by gift-giving traditions anymore than had already been done with the Christmas gift. 'I still feel like that wasn't enough…' He reflected on the memory, before shaking it from his mind. He was grateful, but not St. Nicholas of the 4th floor.

"Don't worry, it's not that kind of surprise!" She said, patting his shoulder as they walked up to his door, the scientist pulling out his key. "Well what other kind of surprise is there?" He unlocked the door and walked in, barely taking two steps before halting and staring blankly at the girl sitting on the couch. His couch. In his apartment…

"Hello! My name is-"

"Get out." He interrupted, taking a step to the side and turning slightly so he was leaving plenty of room for her to show herself to the door. "Sheldon!" Penny exclaimed, lightly smacking his shoulder. The physicist had a mild spasm, looking at her with a hissing gasp. "Don't do that!" He complained, before looking back to the female and crossing his arms, the girl looking at him in annoyance.

Yup. Leonard definitely hadn't exaggerated about this one. It only took her a second of eyeing him up and down to take in his outfit, running a mental checklist in her mind, and let me tell you, his IQ couldn't save his score on this test.

"How did you get in here?" He questioned in a slightly annoyed tone, Sienna standing with a sigh and smoothing out her collared shirt-and-vest top, walking over and standing in front of him, crossing her arms and striking an oddly similar pose. "Penny showed me in, roomie." She smiled coyly at him, Sheldon opening his mouth to continue, before stopping and looking at Penny with a stunned expression. "Excuse me?" He exclaimed, looking back to Sienna.

"You're not excused…" The girl sighed, tapping her lip with a 'hmm' before pointing at him. "That layering of shirts you got going on needs definite attention. While I'm not opposed to the concept, it does make you look rather immature and naive. Combined with those bland, khaki slacks and those shoes, quite frankly, you're a code blue." She gave him a slightly devilish grin.

Penny gaped at her. 'Oh my God, I love this girl!' She thought, laughing as Sheldon stepped back slightly, obviously offended. "Well! Not only did you just take it upon yourself to enter my apartment, and refer to me as your 'roomie'," here he made quotation marks in the air with his long fingers, "but now you're criticizing my intelligence based on my wardrobe? And you find this amusing, Penny?" He looked at her, obviously frustrated.

Sure, he was impressed by the intelligent form of her sentences, but her words were insulting him! Obviously proving she was incompetent, despite her attempt at an intellectual use of the English language…

"Sweetie, sit down for a moment ok?" Penny said, speaking to him as if she were talking to a child, patting his shoulder as she walked over to sit in the arm chair adjacent to 'his spot'. He grumbled, glaring at Sienna as he walked around her and over to his place on the couch, sitting down and continuing to stare down the girl.

He was shocked and appalled when she sat down next to him on the middle of the couch, confused as to why she looked just as determined as him to occupy that spot of the couch behind her smiling eyes and mischievous grin.

·

_This female was confusing, and he didn't like it._

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><p><strong>[AN]**

Thanks so much for the reviews! All your encouragement is so helpful, your excitement for more makes me just as excited to write more! :) Keep 'em coming!

**[edit]** Sorry to have to use a track from another show, it was the only song I had that fitted the feel of the first half of the chapter to me (Sienna settling in and Penny taking Sheldon to lunch).


	3. The Disruption of Habitual Behavior

**The Red Matter Paradigm **_By Joslyn DJ_

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><p><em><span>Soundtrack<span>: __"Everything Is Everything" Phoenix - __"Walkie Talkie Man" Steriogram_

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

The Disruption of Habitual Behavior

·

_He wasn't going to act like he was ok with this..._

The next day...  
>Sheldon sat in his spot on the couch, watching some Star Trek as his mind whirred with thoughts. What a fine mess he had been dragged into… He sighed, resting his elbow on the arm of the couch, chin gently cradled atop his palm. He didn't blame Leonard for not wanting to tell him about his friend, Aaron-oh how he despised that man's existence (more on that later)-but what he <strong>did<strong> blame his roommate for was trying so hard to hide the fact he would be going out of town and his cousin would be staying in his place.

'It's not like I'm unreasonable…' Sheldon thought, pausing before the most subtle trace of a smirk tugged at his lips. 'Heh… Bazinga.' He thought. 'He completely violated the roommate agreement!' The thought made his quirk in his lip turn upside down into a small frown. Maybe that was why he ran out of state…

Sienna poked her head around the corner, glancing at the TV, then to it's viewer…

'I love Star Trek…' She thought, frowning slightly. She wished she knew how to talk to this guy. Leonard had made it sound like they'd get along alright, but they sure didn't start off on the right foot.

"If you're trying to be inconspicuous, I would suggest being lower to the ground when peering around the corner. Your current methodology is not recommended as it is quite obvious." Sheldon said calmly and resolutely, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, before back to the TV.

Yup… Definitely the wrong foot.

"Thanks for the update…" She mumbled, stepping out of the hall with a sigh, glancing at the television as she walked over and sat in the middle of the couch beside him, feeling awkward and stiff, trying to maintain a 'Cooper Forcefield' around the physicist. "StarTrek: The Next Generation, season 2 episode 7, huh?"

Sheldon glanced at her nonchalantly, looking back to the screen, before doing a double take. "Impressive…" He murmured, the corners of his mouth peaking ever so slightly. Sienna gave him a crooked smirk, shrugging before looking back to the show. "I love the series. This episode… Unnatural Selection… I found it rather interesting. The concept of a disease killing you by not killing you, but merely speeding up your body's natural process of aging, it's such an interesting paradox…"

Sheldon took a quick inhale as he began to respond, suddenly very interested in carrying out a conversation with the person next to him. "I always thought so!" He smiled as his mind churned with thoughts of the series. "You know, I always found it intriguing how LeVar Burton had such contrasting roles on TV, the Reading Rainbow and then this…"

Sienna laughed, nodding as she thought of that show. "I used to LOVE that show when I was young!" She pulled her feet up, sitting Indian-style on the couch. "I'd always sing along to the beginning song at the top of my lungs, and be so into the show, my parents could have full on conversations with me and I'd carry them out just fine, but my eyes would never leave the screen." Her eyes danced with her giggled words, a gasping laugh coming from Sheldon. "What a strange child you must have been." He mused, almost wincing after he spoke. He was used to Penny reacting harshly to such a comment, but he was surprised when Sienna only laughed and waved her hand in a 'oh don't I know it' sort of gesture.

·

Hmm… It seemed as though they might get along splendidly.

· ¤ ·

"There is a detailed list posted right beneath the apartment flag specifying the rules for placement and organization within the refrigerator!" Sheldon near-shouted, pulling the paper off the fridge and walking over to her, the short girl crossing her arms and puffing up a bit, standing on her tiptoes. "This! Can you see this? Or has your fascination with all your fandoms impaired your cognitive abilities?"

"Excuse me!" Sienna hissed, her icy eyes sparking at him in frustration. "Do not attempt to douse my intelligence with your petty jabs at my personal interests and hobbies!" She could surprisingly keep her own in a debacle with the physicist. "While your system was understandably well organized, it was so bland and completely uninspired! Your abuse of the amazing device that is a label maker is catastrophic. Any aesthetic qualities were completely ignored and overridden in a disastrous layout that would even shame those of robotic composition!"

Sheldon gaped at her, gasping in shock. "How dare you make such a claim! I am well acquainted with aesthetic qualities in layouts and organizational methods, however I simply know their place is not before that of practicality! Anyone with any common sense understands that order of relevance. It would serve you well to commit such structure to your inferior memory!" His eye twitched with his words, the heat of the argument agitating his sensitivity to fighting.

"Ugh!" Sienna threw up her hands in frustration, pushing past him and marching over to the fridge. She picked up the magnet off the fridge door, turned it upside down, and slapped it back on the appliance. "Leonard was right about you!" She said, marching back over to him, finger pointing in his face.

"What is THAT supposed to mean!" Sheldon asked quizzically, a flame of frustration burning in his eyes. "What has Leonard said about me?" His voice almost wavered with a note of vulnerability, but the man held his composure well.

"Woah woah woah!" Penny rushed into the apartment, seeing Sienna up in Sheldon's face with an angrily pointed finger, while the tall physicist loomed over her ominously, arms crossed haughtily. "What is going on in here?" She asked in concern, quickly stepping towards them and pushing some space between them.

"This… This woman… attempted to destroy any system of structure to my organizational method in the fridge when adding her groceries to the mix! I will have to label, categorize, and alphabetize everything ALL over again! Then recalculate the chronological order!" Sheldon's voice expressed his high-strung state, the mahogany-and-fawn colored hair of his debate opponent glinting in the apartment light as she flicked it out of her face in annoyance. "I was just trying to make it look less like a grocery store freezer aisle and more like a fridge owned by a human being!" She defended, eyes pleading with Penny.

The blond sighed, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. "Listen kids…" She said in a mothering tone. "You are going to have to learn how to get along. You both live under the same roof, and are very different yes, but you also have a lot in common. Right?" She said gently, the two looking at each other in frustration and a near-pout, like children caught in a tussle.

"But she started it…" Sheldon mumbled, his eyes meeting Sienna's at an angle that seemed to cause a spark in their blue depths. She huffed a sigh. "Sorry for trying to help." "No one asked you to."

"Hey.. HEY! What did I just say?" Penny said in a warning tone, before laughing slightly. "Oh, that rhymed!"

The two rolled their eyes at her. Oh boy… Maybe this was a lethal combination. Penny sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Look, all I'm saying is, you might as well try to make your experience of becoming friends and sharing living quarters a pleasant one. Because either way, you're stuck for now." She shrugged.

Sienna looked at Penny, mulling over the girl's words. She had a point… "Alright, look." Sienna sighed and looked back to Sheldon. "It was pretty stupid of me not to acquaint myself with your system of organizing the fridge before adding to it." "Well, obviously." Sheldon grumbled, arms still crossed, the female quirking her eyebrows at him in mild annoyance. 'So juvenile…' She thought, before continuing.

"But you have to give me credit, I did commit your methods of sorting your cupboards and drawers to mind." She said, eyes hopeful as she tried a smile. Penny smirked, finding the expression on her new friend held a young and cute appeal, and hey, figuring out his organization of their kitchenware? That was more than she ever did! 'I usually just fished around and left whatever I used in the sink…' Penny puckered her lips in an 'oh well' frown of thought. She looked to Sheldon for his reaction.

Swallowing, Sheldon's eyes seemed to soften. He had to admit, no guest in his and Leonard's apartment had ever bothered to do such a thing. It was a gesture that he did appreciate. "This is true…" He murmured, slowly lowering his arms.

Relief came over the girl as she looked down, shrugging as she spoke. "I know how I feel if people invade my room or my space I've got laid out a certain way. It's no fun. Sorry for putting you in such a position." She said, Sheldon nodding. "Alright. Apology accepted." He murmured, before looking at Penny with a bland expression.

"Penny, why are you still here? Don't you work?" She rolled her eyes. "Ok gosh, excuse me, not like I was helping or anything…" She just shook her head and smirked to herself, turning to leave. How could anyone focus when they were making such a racket across the hall?

· ¤ ·

The two were back to being peas in a pod by the time Penny came back from her shift. It seemed they had reverted to watching Star Trek as it was a mutual point of agreement. The two babbled on about factoids and actors, scenes and outtakes. It was a nerd-fest for sure.

The waitress was pleased with the result when she checked in on them, deciding it was fine to go back to her apartment and catch up on some of her favorite chick flic-

"What do you MEAN you prefer the actor from the new Star Trek film over Leonard Nimoy?" Sheldon's high-pitched shriek reached her ears. She sighed and dropped her head in her hands.

·

_Oh boy… This was going to be a very VERY long week..._

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><p><strong>[AN]**

Sorry for the short filler chapter. :/ I've got a mid-term exam coming up next week and I am just feeling the weight of it bearing on my mind. Please stay tuned though! I may take a while to update, but I have plots planned. ;)

**[edit] **The Phoenix song is mainly fitting because of the relaxed feel of the song, and it's opening lyrics fit the beginning of the chapter to a T. :) Haha, oh and I could think of no song better fitting a wordy and heated argument between those two than Walkie Talkie Man. XD I love that song.


	4. The Restoration of a Routine

**The Red Matter Paradigm** _By Joslyn DJ_

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><p><em><span>Soundtrack<span>: __"Morning Thought" Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - (second song will be added soon)_

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

The Restoration of a Routine

·

_You know that weird feeling of waking up in a strange place...?_

Sunshine streamed in through the cracks in the blinds, glinting on the polished wood and silver handles of the dresser drawers. The room was cool (below 73 degrees, of course) and comfortable, the brunette tucked comfortably between the sheets, snuggled up to her multiple pillows that formed her little 'fortress' in her bed.

Taking in a deep breath, Sienna sighed and slowly rolled over, streams of cherry-brown and soft tan tousled on the pillowcase, her small abdomen rising and falling with the slow breaths of sleep…

A sweet dream slowly dissipated in her mind as her light, blue-green eyes slowly began to open.

Wait… this wasn't her room… Where was she?

Sitting up slowly, she brushed her hair out of her face and blinked a couple of times to clear the sleepy blur from her eyes, glancing around the room with a squinted gaze. "Oh yeah…" She exhaled the words, before stretching and yawning, the breath catching in her throat with a squeak, a quirky little habit, but nonetheless.

It was 6:30 in the morning, the sun was just over the horizon, and Sienna had finished freshening up and getting ready for her day. She stood in the kitchen, leaning over the counter and staring out the window across the room, surrounded by whiteboards. Penny's words were still tumbling over in her mind. The blond had made a lot of sense, and she was trying her best to think of how to make it up to her temporary 'roomie'.

·

The smell of oatmeal wafted to the ceiling, scrawling through the hall and into the bedrooms. Was that cinnamon and honey? "Hnnmmm…" A soft moan escaped him as he lay in his makeshift mummy tomb.

"Oatmeal day…" A smile creeped onto the fair-skinned man's face, his rich blue eyes slowly peeking open.

Wait… He hadn't made the oatmeal ahead of time last night, right? Of course not, how foolish…

The brown-haired physicist sat up, eyes scanning the room. He paused in thought, before taking a deep breath, inhaling the rich breakfast-y scent. His body relaxed subconsciously, the aroma pleasing his senses.

"Well, good morning…" He cooed, a coy smirk crossing his face as he pulled the covers back, standing to his feet. He stepped into his slippers and was tying his plaid robe around him as he exited his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"I know you must feel horribly guilty about your decision to help Aaron, but that was no reason for you to come home so early and make me breakfast, Leonar-" Sheldon's sentence trailed after him as he walked towards the kitchen… He paused, staring in stunned silence at the petite female happily drizzling some honey on a bowl of oatmeal.

"Oh…" He muttered, clearing his throat before stepping forward, his hands unclasping from behind his back, arms resting limply at his sides. "Sienna… How did you know it was oatmeal day?" He asked her curiously, eyebrow quirked.

"I love downloading new apps?" She smiled, near-bouncing in her fuzzy purple slippers as she stepped over to him, smiling up at the tall, thin man and proudly holding out a bowl of her creation, the sweet and cinnamon-spice wafting up into the air in curls and squiggles of warm steam.

He blinked down at her, his darker shade of blue meeting her ice-toned gaze. He paused a fraction of a second more than he planned, then quickly reacted and lifted his hands to take the bowl, not even glancing down at it as he continued to stare and said a slow 'thank you' before finally looking at the bowl of oatmeal.

'Huh… Fascinating…' He thought, noting the rather picturesque appearance of it.

She watched him anxiously, standing on her tiptoes to lean over the edge of the counter, Sheldon glancing at her out of the corner of his eye as he sniffed a spoonful of the oatmeal, before taking a bite, tongue taking in the flavor before he chewed and swallowed down the warm food.

Considering this was Leonard's cousin, he didn't have high expectations of her cooking skills, and yet there he stood, pleasantly surprised and almost dumbfounded… almost. After all, it IS Sheldon we're talking about here.

"Sienna, this is…" He ate some more, before going over to his spot, his facial expression portraying the deep thought his mind was in, processing the texture, flavor, temperature. "This is the most delicious bowl of oatmeal I've ever had!" He said in a tone of surprise, looking up at her with a look that one could swear held a boyish sparkle for just a second…

She smiled, the smallest trace of pink bashfulness flourishing on her sunkissed cheeks. Cooking was one of her greatest joys, next to her educational pursuits, but the chef was a shy and easily embarrassed one at that, always squirming or blushing under any compliment.

Thankfully, it kept her humble enough to bear the title of best cook in the family and only child to pursue a PhD of her siblings without causing noses to scrunch in disdain at an oversized ego and bloated arrogance.

"I'm so glad you like it!" Sienna said in a sigh of relief. She stepped around the counter, pulling her purple furry robe around her tight to fight off the morning chill in the room, plopping down onto the middle cushion of the leather couch, picking up her bowl of cereal she had left on the coffee table.

Sheldon frowned curiously at this, opening his mouth to speak. He set down his silver spoon in his bright yellow bowl. "Aren't you going to have any?" He questioned, glancing to the pot on the stove, covered to keep warm. "It seemed as though you had made enough for two." He mused, looking back to her for an answer.

She shook her head, chewing her mouthful of Cap'n Crunch with berries. "Oh, that's for you. For me, it's Cap'n Crunch day." She smiled after she swallowed, holding up her spoon in a saluting gesture, placing it back into the milky pool of cereal, scooping up another bite as her ice blue eyes watched him casually.

"Why did you do all of this, Sienna?" He asked, the girl brushing a stray, wavy strand of hair behind her ear, the high and messy ponytail having missed a few bits here and there. "I decided to take Penny's advice." She answered simply, giving another smile. "It's the least I could do for my new roomie!"

A hint of a smirk tugged at the corner of Sheldon's mouth as he replied. "Hmm, yes…" He murmured, before digging into his bowl of oatmeal. "Oh, I almost forgot, it's time for Doctor Who!" He said in a happy tone, reaching for the remote to turn on the television.

"Oh, you know I've never seen that show…" Sienna said in a soft tone of thoughtfulness, looking curiously at the TV as the intro sequence for the series began to play.

Sheldon's head quickly whipped towards her as he exclaimed,

"WHAT?"

· ¤ ·

"Well, let me just say I am very happy to see you two getting along better than yesterday!" Penny said with a smile, the waitress holding her pad and pen as the two sat with Koothrappali and Wolowitz at the Cheesecake Factory. "And I see you've met Raj and Howard?" She said, her smile turning to a half-hearted smirk as she said the name of the rebellious and small-scale Jew.

"Yes, well, to put it in a nutshell, I've had the opportunity to educate Sienna on a few cultural necessities which has eased the strain of miscommunication and lack of understanding amongst myself and my friends in concordance with Sienna." Sheldon explained wordily, causing the blond to blink with her typical blank expression he had grown to accept.

"Right. So you're getting the usual…" She said, looking to her notepad. "And Raj is going for the cobb salad, Howard with the double bacon cheeseburger…" She looked up from the paper and smiled at Sienna. "What can I get you, girlie?"

The female smiled politely at her new friend, putting down her glass of water before looking at the menu. "I would like to try the soup and salad, with clam chowder and can I get ranch and bleu cheese dressing?" She asked, looking up at Penny, handing her the menu.

"Of course m'dear!" Penny said with a grin, gathering up the menus and nodding at them as she tucked her pen and pad into her apron pocket. "I'll go put those in, and I'll be back in a few!" She gave them a little wave before heading to the back. The restaurant wasn't too busy tonight, so Penny was in a chipper mood than she usually was at work; after all, she WAS a waitress (to quote Sheldon).

Howard fidgeted slightly, a familiar behavior that happened before he was about to speak. Sheldon tried to hold back an eyeroll as he thought 'oh boy, here it comes'. He had grown used to Howard's less than tasteful attempts at wooing women who were clearly not in his realm of amiable alignments. Besides, he had Bernadette now. Well, one must suppose it is difficult to break long-standing habits…

"So, Sienna… going for a PhD in philosophy, huh?" Howard said in a slick tone, Raj looking at him before smiling awkwardly at Sienna. Yeah, that selective mutism? Still a problem. "You must have quite the imaginative mind then, huh? I mean, considering you're an artist and such a deep thinker." Here he rested his elbows on the table, leaning forward slightly as his chin rested atop his folded hands.

Sheldon couldn't help but interject here. "Howard, I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but it is considered impolite to rest your elbows on the table according to dining etiquette of the United Kingdom." He folded his hands and rested them on the edge of the table professionally. "This has long-since been a part of etiquette in our own country, though not held to quite as strictly as it used to be, and for that we can thank mr-"

"Got it, Sheldon. I get the picture." Howard looked at the man with a dull, annoyed stare, slowly moving his arms off the table, resting his hands on the tablecloth calmly. "So anyway, what made you choose to go that route?" He looked back to Sienna with a grin.

Holding back a chuckle, Sienna was about to answer before Sheldon's mumbled comment escaped his lips. "Rather than throw away her future and settle for being an uneducated simpleton… like an engineer." He looked away as if he hadn't said anything, Raj covering his mouth as he chuckled in a hissing whisper.

Howard glanced at the physicist in mild annoyance, before making eye contact with the artist as she began to explain her upbringing and first fascination with art and theology, and then philosophy.  
>She had grown up in a Christian home and always found the bible studies and discussions on theology fascinating, so she desired to be educated in the area, and that desire for knowledge spread from theology to the study of philosophy in general.<br>It had been such an enjoyable and mentally engaging field, she decided to choose it for her PhD. Art was, of course, her passion and primary outlet of expression, but being a bit of a Philosopher engaged the writer in her and kept the technical part of her brain alive and kicking.

"That is so interesting!" Howard mused, nodding with a grin. "The only experience with Christianity I've had, has been the crazy stories Sheldon's share of his mother." He chuckled, Sheldon frowning slightly at him as Sienna chuckled. "Oh, yes. Those southern Charismatics can get really...well...over the top." She mused, Sheldon scoffing. "To put it lightly!" He added.

However, before he could get carried away on that, Penny arrived with their dishes, passing them out and repeating the order to double check. "You boys behave and don't grill Sienna! I'm going on my break, so Bernadette will take care of you guys for the next 20 minutes." She said, smiling as she left the table.

"Oh good! Sienna, Bernadette is my fiancé." Howard said proudly, the brunette smiling and gasping in surprise. "Oh, congratulations!" She cooed, clapping her hands together. "I love weddings! Promise me if you have a less-closed wedding, you'll invite me?" She asked sweetly, Howard chuckling slightly. "I don't see why not, but I leave that up to the lady bride-to-be herself." He said with a wink. "As you should!" Sienna nodded, not offended at all.

Sheldon tapped the edge of his chair beneath the tablecloth, lips pursed in a subtle frown as he looked between the two of them. Something about Howard and Sienna hitting it off just… rubbed him the wrong way. A jagged exhale left his nostrils, the thin man shifting slightly in his seat. He straightened his posture and carefully picked up a french fry, chewing on it slowly.

His reaction was perfectly justified, after all, this was a relative of his close friend and roommate who was left in his care. Albeit against his will, but nonetheless… She was left to be his temporary 'replacement' roommate if you will, and her being a few years younger and physically smaller than him by a considerable amount, brought about the natural humanistic reaction in him to be ever so slightly protective over her.

·

_Yes, perfectly justified... Right?  
><em>

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><p><strong>[AN]**

Oh, I just couldn't leave this fan fiction sitting in wait! :D This was a bit of an indulgent chapter, I felt bad for the short one before. Anyhow! I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. ;) Thanks for the encouragement with college, by the way! My first mid-term was a lot easier than I was expecting, so I feel pretty good about it.

I did get sick this week, but now I'm just about over it and I still have a bit of catching up on homework to do (not to mention I'm getting scheduled at work again) so I apologize in advance if my updates take a lonnnng time. :/


	5. The Process of Adjustment

**The Red Matter Paradigm **_By Joslyn DJ_

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><p><em>Soundtrack:<em> _"New Soul" Yale Naim & David Donatien - __"I Feel It All" Feist - "Phantom Limb" The Shins_

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

The Process of Adjustment

·

_Things were off to an awkward, bumpy start..._

A couple days after meeting Raj and Howard, the newcomer was trying her best to find her place in between Sheldon's rules, the gang's routines and Penny's work schedule.

Most of the time she just defaulted to working on her writing ideas, reading books when she'd lose inspiration and listening to music or watching TV when her eyes got sick of the black lettering on white pages.

Today, she had the apartment to herself for the whole whole day, thanks to Penny giving Dr. Cooper a ride to the office and Raj and Howard promising to follow through with the lunch routine despite Leonard's absence.

In just 48 hours Sienna had experienced the reality of Sheldon's extremities and discovered a few 'hot buttons' to avoid-like asking blanket questions that inspire novel-long explanations-but she still felt awkward and confused around him. Sometimes it felt like he was speaking a foreign language, and it was hard for her to figure out the dynamic he shared with the others.

From her perspective, it seemed like Penny was kind and sympathetic towards him, but she always treated him like a younger sibling or even a child. Howard would crack jokes and have short conversations with him, but Sheldon seemed to be the brunt of most of his jokes… and Raj, well, Raj still wasn't talking around her so she had no idea what their friendship was like.

"Oh well!" Sienna shrugged her shoulders and stood up from the couch, happily walking down the hall towards her cousin's room. It was about time she got to work on her art project ideas! A grin spread on the girl's face as she grabbed one of her suitcases, rolling it out to the living room. "I'll just move this out of the way…" She muttered, picking up a white board and setting it down by the window in front of a blank one that was on the floor, propped up against the wall.

She unzipped the suitcase, pulling out a wooden case that held her paints and brushes, grabbed her pouch filled with charcoal and colored pencils, and pulled out one of the canvas boards from the bottom. Setting it on the stand that previously held the white board, she went to the kitchen sink and filled her plastic cup for rinsing brushes.

Alright, inspiration… Do your stuff!

_·_

...aaaand nothing. She let out a 'huff', her hair fluttering slightly in reaction to the short exhale. Why couldn't she think of anything to do? The brunette tapped her foot, arctic eyes engaging the canvas in a staredown.

She needed a muse. Her gaze wandered around the room, finger tapping her chin in thought. "Where are you…?" She mumbled, beginning to walk around the apartment, aimless and slow, taking in her surroundings.

The only thing that captured her attention in the livingroom was the whiteboards, which wasn't much of a source for inspiration at all. She rubbed the back of her neck, frowning in thought at them. They were neat, clean, had a modern feel… Contrasted against most of the other things in the room… Geometric.

She ruffled her hair in annoyance, grumbling to herself as she rolled her eyes. A blank canvas would perfectly represent that, so cool, job done. She needed to delve deeper, but...

"Sheldon hates people going in his room," she voiced her thoughts aloud, "but right now that whiteboard is the best I got to work with and that's definitely not saying much." a sigh escaped her. What to do, what to do?

·

A few hours later, rolling the tip of the handle of her paintbrush left and right in her mouth, Sienna sat backwards in a folding chair, facing her blank canvas.

She knew what she was going to do. A near-mischievous grin was spread across her face, a small 'heh' escaping her before she stood and folded up the chair in one motion, setting it against the couch before swirling her paintbrush in the cup of clear water, tapping it on the edge to let the excess water drop off, before digging into some yellow paint.

The bristles expanded and flowed over the canvas, slowly tracing a solar-flare pattern.

She thought of the sun over the west coast during a summer sunrise, using her fingers to flick the end of the brush, small specks scattering on the canvas. Adding pale pinks and blues, she crafted an abstract mimicry of the scene in her mind.

An hour after the thin layer of acrylic paint dried, she grabbed a new paintbrush and began to use the oil paints. She built up texture around the flare in the center, making it feel like it as burning through the canvas, emphasizing the radial abstract markings on the canvas. Some looked like bubbles, others like swirls and splatters. By the time she had finished, she had a three dimensional piece that looked like a sunrise bursting through the lense of a foggy camera lense.

"I think Penny will enjoy this…" She thought out loud, nodding in approval. Stretching with a sigh, she rinsed her brushes and plopped down on the couch (in the middle of course) and stared at the ceiling. One down, five to go.

You see, her plan was to leave parting gifts with the new friends she had made and her cousin. A sort of thanks for them being so welcoming and hospitable to her (although it had taken Sheldon some warming up to her, and he definitely hadn't given her the friendliest of welcomes), she felt it was the least she could do.

_· ¤ ·_

Later that afternoon…

Wiping some sweat from her brow, she stared at the five canvases drying on the windowsill. She had finished her gifts for Penny, Howard, Bernadette, Raj and Leonard. Howard's was a kaleidoscope of greens and blues, refracting light in a pattern similar to water. Bernadette's was filled with rich, warm colors like burgundies and ochres, and if you looked at it from a distance, it looked like a flower blooming. Raj's was made of earthy colors, soft tans and rich espresso browns with a dash of red and white here and there. It was very organic in shape and structure, with expressive strokes and patterns that were structured yet not. Leonard's was made up of blacks and desaturated bues, looking like a city scape silhouetted by an unnatural, dull blue light. The buildings almost looked like they were made of black glass, reflecting the glow in strange ways.

Before her was the sixth and final canvas panel to be painted. Sheldon's. How on earth would she think of something to paint for him? The other pieces expressed the people they were made for; an embodiment of the first impressions she had gotten from the group. The character of each individual was unique and had very different 'feel's from one another. But Sheldon… He was from a whole other realm of individuality.

She closed her eyes and tried to visualize his personality in colors and shapes. Whites and blacks, sky blue and red, light, sterile… Organized and geometric yet quirky… She shook her head and frowned with a sigh. Maybe she would crack and search for some points of inspiration in his room after all…

_· ¤ ·_

Later that evening…

"Finally!" Sienna dropped to a sit on the floor with a sigh. She had been unable to find any point of inspiration for a painting to give to the 2 PhD bearing physicist-decided to put it to rest for now-and painted something expressive of her own self. It was on a larger canvas panel, a swirling, bursting pattern covering the canvas in transparent, watered-down strokes of sky blue and indigo. It overlaid the ice blue silhouette of a city on the edge of a rocky and sandy beach, textured stroked atop it mimicking the look of fractured glass. Where the shards 'fell' to the bottom of the canvas, it reflected the waves and beach in realism, a burst of color and detail against the clean, organic rendering in abstract tones of the scene.

She was quite pleased with herself, looking it over with a smile, eyes glinting. It reminded her of Fisherman's Warf, the waves a rich, steely blue, with light, warm grains of sand kissing the tide. Her favorite was the top of the canvas, where the sun seemed to burst out with it's rays, a sort of 'lens flare' covering the canvas. The sky held fluffy clouds in pale pinks, purples, and white. It reminded her so much of those California sunrises she loved so much…

Tearing up slightly, she laughed and quickly wiped her eyes. A flood of memories she had always held at bay rushed forward against her will. Sienna stood and took a deep breath, crossing her arms and looking at the floor.

It was the reason she never painted pictures reflective of her own mind or memories… but something had stirred in her, a desire to represent a piece of her heart on the pure white textured surface of that canvas. Being in this new place made her feel brave, adventurous… but the pain of regret and dull sadness clutched her insides with their cold grasp, twisting ever so slightly.

She ran her hands through her hair, flecks and smears of dried paint on her hands and arms, her ice blue gaze growing dull. She didn't want to think about home. She didn't want to think about what happened that day… and staring at the canvas as the revelation of what she had painted hit her, brought an old, familiar sting that she had hoped would have been numbed with time by now…

The sound of footsteps and a turning key made her jump with a start, the girl gasping as a cold chill trickled down her spine. What time was it? She looked at the kitchen, stunned that it was already 6 p.m. She had been painting for 8 hours! Man, time flies when you're preoccupied with something.

Forgetting about the canvas resting on the white board stand, she grabbed the paintings off the window sill and quickly stepped into the hall, heading for her room. She pulled the end table in front of the window, resting the couple that were still drying atop it, opening the window to help them airate and dry sooner.

Grabbing a fresh pair of pajamas, she bunched the camisole and fuzzy shorts and tucked it under her arm, pulling her towel off the hook on the back of the door and heading into the bathroom, locking it behind her. Time to shower and scrub all that paint off… along with the memories.

_·_

Sheldon set his keys down in the bowl, scrunching his nose in disdain as the strong aroma of oil paints reached his nose. His sharp blue eyes darted from the living room to the window, an eyebrow quirking as he looked at the floor covered with a thin plastic tarp. Painting supplies were laid out, a half-filled suitcase of canvas panels sitting near his white board stand that held a painting. He blinked at it, rolling his eyes slightly before sighing and closing the door behind him.

Art… Such a pointless waste of time.

He didn't bother giving the canvas a second-glance, instead turning on the television and setting down his messenger bag. He went to the bathroom for the Fabreeze, annoyed when the door wouldn't open. He heard the shower spouting water in a sound resembling that of rain, frowning as his mind put two and two together. Great, now he'd have to use the candles reserved for special occasions.

He set about six candles out in the living area: one on each end of the kitchen counter, one large 3-wick candle in the center of the coffee table, two smaller candles on the windowsill, and one on the small table holding the key bowl. He turned off the living room light and went into the kitchen, pulling out a container of his leftover food from last night. He placed it on a microwave-safe bowl, heating it for the appropriate amount of time before sitting down before the t.v., having left the small light over the stove on.

It was easier on his eyes to watch the scyfy channel in the dimly lit room, as strange as it sounded. The main livingroom lights tended to glare on the screen and annoy him after hours of watching. He took a bite of his warm tangerine chicken, chewing slowly as the intro to the show began to play.

_·_

Turning off the warm water, the sound of drips pattered around her feet, long hair heavy with moisture from showering as she squeezed the excess water out of it. She sighed and began to dry herself off, stepping out and putting on her pajamas, the ice blue camisole fitting well but loose enough to be comfortable, the fuzzy black short shorts warm and cozy to sleep in. She rubbed her head, trying to dry out her hair best she could, before setting the towel out to dry, beginning to brush her dark cherry-brown hair.

She stared at the slightly fogged mirror, listening to the incoherent murmur of voices from the television. The smell of her shampoo and body wash filled the small bathroom, and her lotion mingled into the mix as she rubbed it into her arms and legs, the excess on her hands getting rubbed into her neck so her hands wouldn't feel so slippery.

Stepping into her slippers with a slow exhale, she brushed her damp hair behind her ear and unlocked the door, stepping out of the bathroom. She blinked in surprise, glancing around at the candles and dimly lit room. "Uh…" The mumble fell clumsily from her mouth as Sienna stepped forward, raising an eyebrow at the innocent geek sitting on his couch eating leftovers.  
>"Should I give you two some privacy?" She said with a smirk, placing a hand on her hip and nodding towards the t.v. as she saw Sheldon was completely immersed in the premiere of the new sci-fi show. She couldn't help but chuckle at him, walking over and being sure to step around the back of the couch so as not to block his line of site, sitting down on the middle of the couch.<p>

Sheldon lifted his head ever so slightly, the scent of pomegranate, pear, blackberry and lilac slowly entering the livingroom from the bathroom in it's warm, soft scent. He looked down to the female sitting beside him, tracing the aroma to her, giving her a small smirk at the joke she made before looking back to the television. "This new show is simply fascinating…" He mused, clicking the volume to mute during the commercials.

He began explaining to Sienna the details of the pilot he had just scene, growing excited as the television screen showed that another episode of the new series would be playing shortly after. However, during his lengthy explanation and dialoguing over the show with her…

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he mulled over the random pieces of data he had collected of the girl. For example, he found it far less sufferable when females used scented body washes or lotions compared to those concentrated perfumes. It made her presence more… tolerable.

He appreciated her habits of cleanliness and organization, though they were far below his standards. She held potential for improvement, and was open and receptive to criticism when he'd remind her of something being left out or misplaced. It was a far better reaction than the ones he usually received from his friends or roommate. Although he'd definitely need to mention the painting supplies to her.

She never did remember to ask him about the candles, but the pleasant aroma and soothing warm lights lulled her into a very relaxed state. Sienna sat curled up on the middle cushion, ever so slightly invading the 'Cooper Forcefield' boundary she had mentally laid out for herself, though of course she was not physically touching him.

Sheldon was far too fascinated with the show to notice her small slipper-donned foot resting on the corner of 'his spot' or her curling trails of dark-and-tan hair flowing over the back of the couch and brushing against his shirt sleeve. Sienna's half-lidded gaze stated at the television drowsily, sleep lapping at the shore of her mind.

Yes, he had grown more accustomed to her existence here, and dare I say, he actually found her company enjoyable at times. She was very engaging and interested in conversations of random facts and information that others wrote of as boring drawl, and the two shared a couple laughs here and there over factoids and stories of irony pertaining to scientific discoveries and the forming of towns or tools that were well known around the world.

Perhaps it was time for a 'Sienna' clause in the roommate agreement? Such an amendment should not be too difficult to implement… The physicist was unaware of the faint trace of a smile that crossed his lips at the thought. 'Yes… I'll have to work on that soon.' He thought, just as the female drifted off to sleep beside him.

_·_

_Perhaps this arrangement would work out after all?_

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><p><strong>[AN]**

Phew! Longest chapter I've written so far... just a filler chapter. :) I wanted to delve a little deeper into Sienna's character, so I felt like it would be nice to have a little 'alone time' of her working on her art. The small woman has a bit of her own scars she has to deal with, I wonder what they're from? ;)

Also, I decided to add a little feature at the top of every new chapter! Did you notice the 'soundtrack'? :D I hope you like this. I just thought it would be cool to share what songs fit the feel of the story in my mind, make it a little more 'alive', you know?

Anyways, thanks for all the reviews! They are such encouragement and motivation, seriously. :) If it wasn't for those past few reviews, I wouldn't have been able to finish this chapter for probably another week or two. So please keep 'em coming! Reviews are lovvvvveee! :D


	6. The 14th Amendment Adaptation

**The Red Matter Paradigm **_By Joslyn DJ_

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><p><em><span>Soundtrack:<span> "Daylight" Matt & Kim_

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><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

The 14th Amendment Adaptation

·

_He thought it was a clever name for the document..._

A week had already passed since Sienna first joined the group of friends in Pasadena.

It had been four days since the thought of an 'amendment' for Sienna had crossed Sheldon's mind, sitting on the couch in the dimly candlelit room, absorbed in the television program as the female beside him had drifted to sleep.

His mouth quirked a tad. She had been quite tolerable in that state, quiet and small. He hadn't really noticed how peacable and petite the woman was until that moment. When the 3-hour premiere of the new show had finally ended, she was out cold, and Sheldon-feeling sympathy for his temporary roommate-had gotten an extra pillow and blanket from the hall closet. All he had to do was place the pillow in his spot and laid the blanket over her, because she had automatically been drawn to the warmth in her sleep and stretched out under the blanket. Simple enough to manage, and it pleased him that even in her unconscious state, she knew to rest with her head on the correct side of the couch, farthest from the door.

You see, since her enterance into his little 'petri dish' environment called 'home', his mind had been collecting all the random little facts, processing the data into information that was mentally documented into the section he now titled 'The 14th Amendment Adaptation', a rather witty title he prided himself on, considering the fact that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America addressed equal treatment of people. Sienna had passed his little test to earn a 'green card', per say, but she had yet to attain a citizenship in Apartment 4A.

A small chuckle escaped him. Oh, that was a good one…

"Sheldon, what is that?" Raj's voice intruded upon Sheldon's train of thought, causing the physicist to shift uncomfortably in his chair as he turned to face Koothrappali. "To what, are you referring to?" He asked in a tone of mild annoyance, Raj's dark eyebrows furrowing as he walked over and peered over Sheldon's shoulder. He pointed at the white, blue-lined notepad in front of the physicist. An explosion of formulas, algorithms, pieces of information, names and random words filled the page, as well as the four folded over pages before it. "Did you figure out the solution to the paradigm shift in the string theory formula we've been working on?" He asked, dark eyes glinting in light of hope.

"What? No!" Sheldon exclaimed, lifting the pad and folding over another sheet to hide the filled papers underneath the pad, a fresh paper showing on the surface now. "It's nothing." He said, waving his hand dismissively. "Apartment business." He mumbled before standing from his chair and picking up a red dry-erase marker, stepping over to the array of whiteboards outlining his office.

"It didn't look like nothing…" Raj murmured curiously, glancing at Sheldon to make sure he had focused on the white boards, before picking it up quietly and slowly turning over a page-

"Put it down." Sheldon piped up in a blunt tone, blue eyes darting to Raj out of the corner of his eye, neck arced to catch sight of the man in time.

Raj flinched slightly, before sighing in annoyance and setting it down. "Fine…" He whined, before walking over to Sheldon and standing beside his co-worker. His eyes looked back to the desk longingly, child-like curiosity gnawing at him. He could have sworn he saw Sienna's name written down multiple times… Then again, it could have said "Sierra" just as well, considering he had a hard time reading Sheldon's hand writing on occasion. Americans all write their n's and r's so similarly! It made reading through all of Sheldon's notes very difficult when the two were working through new problems. But I digress…

· ¤ ·

The morning progressed steadily, business going as usual. Finally it was lunch time, and Sheldon was already standing in line as Raj and Howard enterd the cafeteria, conversing with each other.

"Bernadette texted me that she won't be free tonight…" Howard sighed longingly, glancing at his watch then up at Sheldon, inwardly rolling his eyes at how their genius friend was in line at the perfect time, according to the Cooper schedule that had been forcibly embedded in all of their minds.

"Yeah? Bummer…" Raj mumbled, obviously not interested in a conversation about Howard's fiancé. He meant no offense to his friend, he was just uncomfortable hearing about it, considering he used to have a big fatty ol' crush on her and was still single even now. He held in a sigh. Besides, his mind was still preoccupied with the scribbled out notes he had seen on Sheldon's desk. Something funky was going on with him…

But then again, when WASN'T there something strange going on with Sheldon Lee Cooper?

"Yeah, she said Penny invited her over tonight for a girl's night and a… slumber party…" A devillish grin spread over Howard's face as the two continued to walk through the cafeteria, the short Jew picking up a tray when they reached the food line. "Penny? Slumber party?" Raj was suddenly interested.

His face lighted as he turned to Howard. "Will there be pillow fights?" He asked in an uppity tone, Howard shrugging as he grabbed a plate and began to pick out what he wanted to eat. "I'd assume so, isn't that like, a fundamental activity of girl slumber parties?" He said cluelessly, Sheldon rolling his eyes as he overheard their conversation, grabbing his four napkins-face, hands, emergency and guest-before going on to silverware, avoiding the three-tier forks with a narrowed gaze of scrutiny.

"Is Sienna going to be there as well?" Raj asked, a bit too excited to be only casually curious.

The three took their seats at their usual table, Sheldon hesitating in his reaching for his fork as a small twitch overtook his fingertips; he glanced at Raj with a gaze that seemed sharper than normal, before clearing his throat and grasping the utensil. 'Odd…' Seemed he might be suffering some RLI symptoms, he really needed to look into that ergonomic keyboard...

The two didn't seem to notice, Howard grinning. "Oh, you know I don't know… Let me text her!"

"Sienna?" Sheldon asked, blinking up at Howard. Since when did he get her number?

"No, Sheldon," a tone of great annoyance tainted Howard's voice, "Bernadette. Why the heck would I have Sienna's number? She's Leonard's cousin! Think it through, man…" He exhaled in exasperation before texting his fiancé, Sheldon's gaze flattening in dull vexation. "No need to be a smart alec about it…" He muttered, a click of his tongue forming a couple 'tsk's of disapproval, before he pulled out his small bottle of hand sanitizer and saturated his pale hands with the cleansing gel.

'That's right, she's Leonard's cousin...' The physicist's brow furrowed ever so slightly as the thought crossed his mind...

Raj frowned, eyebrows quirked curiously as he glanced at Sheldon, before looking back to Howard, excitement lighting his eyes once more. "Oh oh, ask her what pajamas she's wearing!"

"You idiot, it's 12:30 in the afternoon! They haven't even met up yet, let alone gotten dressed in their nightwear!" He rolled his eyes, Raj blinking in realization. "Oh, right." He nodded, before taking a large bite of his food, waiting to hear what Bernadette's text reply would say.

"So, Sheldon. Raj tells me you both have been having a rough morning with that formula of yours?" Wolfowitz spoke up, Sheldon glancing at him with a bemused 'yes' before looking back to his plate. 'Oh boy, here comes the 2-hour special report on his latest formula of some sub-category of string theory…'

Howard instantly regretted opening that door, and Seldom's deep breath preceeding his next sentence didn't ease his discomfort. Normally Leonard would get Sheldon off track from one of his explanations, but Raj and Howard were slightly helpless against this one without their curly-haired friend, and so the rest of their lunch time was a dull and long-winded one, broken up only by the vague and concise texts from Bernadette that hardly brought Raj and Howard any pleasant imagery to their minds.

_· ¤ ·_

Meanwhile, at the Cheesecake factory…

"I don't know why Howard's being so nosey about all this." Bernadette complained in her soft, light voice. Penny shrugged and picked up her tray, placing the two plates of Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake on it before turning to her friend. "Probably trying to give Raj some freaky sort of pick-me-up." She suggested, before walking off to serve the desert to her last table before she could take her break.

"Really?" Bernadette asked in mild surprise, meeting up with Penny a second after the blond had finished with her customers, nodding as she placed her black checkbook in her apron pocket. "Well, what else could it be? Sheldon's the last person on earth to inquire about anything like one of our girl's nights. We practically had to drag him to that one time we all grabbed a couple drinks and went dancing with Amy." She reminded the microbiologist, a soft 'oh yeah' leaving her lips as she nodded in remembrance to Penny's words.

"How is Amy doing, anyway?" She asked, taking her glasses off a second to clean the lenses with the soft fabric of her golden sweater vest, placing them back on her face and looking to her friend's hazel eyes as she replied, "Well, I think. She's been in Africa for... 4 months now; can you believe it?" Penny shook her head, surprised at how time had flown. "Wow, it's really been that long?" The strawberry blond sighed, shrugging as she picked up a few empty breadbaskets to help out the busboys during the lull in customer flow. "Last time she had cell phone reception, she sent me a 6-part text explaining how the drug addiction experimentations on uncaged wildlife was going." This earned a laugh from Penny, "Yeah, I got that while I was on a blind date with some guy a friend hooked me up with. I could NOT stop laughing when she described the tweaked out sloth's behavior!" The two girls giggled and laughed.

"Well, I'm glad her trip has been such a success. I know it's been a big step forward for her caree-wise…" She went on, frowning in thought as she remembered how Sheldon's big expedition had gone. She really hoped nothing like that would happen to their friend Amy, but then again, tampering with scientific experimentation was a lot easier to do over radio frequencies than with physical animals and drugs. It was far less detectable in a frigid arctic environment with no one around but your team mates. Nevertheless…

"How is Sheldon handling her absence?" Bernadette counted some receipts out on the counter as she spoke, Penny chewing the end of her pen-something that would have caused the physicist they spoke of to break out into a mild panic attack-as she fanned herself with her stack of receipts she had collected from her shift so far.

"Well, he certainly hasn't been talking about her much for a month or so," she mused, setting the receipts down on the counter and crossing her arms, pen still between her lips and teeth, small bite mark impressions forming in the plastic. "Last I remember, the two got into a rather heated debate about six or seven weeks ago. It really rattled Sheldon-he tossed his cell phone out the window yelling something about not being able to stand listening to her arguments anymore, you know, in that angry southern drawl of his-and as far as I know that was the last time they communicated." She couldn't help but laugh at that memory.

"Wait, I thought they had been texting that day because of Amy's spotty reception?" Bernadette questioned, Penny laughing some more. "They were!" She said in a high tone, the two girls giggling together again.

"That Sheldon…" Bernadette's sweet voice said in amusement, waving her hand as she spoke, "he can be so smart, yet so nonsensical at the same time when he's upset about something." She chuckled, Penny nodding. "You're telling me!" The blond smirked with a curt nod, before looking over to their shift lead as he signalled for the girls to take their break. They waved back in thanks before snagging their own table.

"Speaking about Shelon being mad…" Bernadette went on, pulling out a chair to sit. "How has he been handling Sienna's staying in the apartment? Last we talked, you mentioned the two were getting into a lot of little disagreements?" Penny groaned at the memory, nodding as she sat down across from her friend. "Oh, yeah. I sure lost out on sleep a couple of nights during their Leonard Nimoy vs. Zachary Quinto." Penny took a drink of her water she had grabbed before exiting the kitchen, setting the glass down with an amused 'hmm'. "Thank God he came out of the closet, or I never would have heard the end of that one!" She laughed, Bernadette chuckling with an amused but confused expression on her face. "Wait, why did that end the argument?" She asked, staring at her friend for an answer.

"Because," Penny explained, "Sienna's main argument against Leonard Nimoy being the best Spock was that Zach was a far more attractive portrayal of the Vulcan and his kiss with Ahur-what's-her-face got all the fangirls going crazy! When he came out, it totally defeated her point. Sheldon was elated, of course." She rolled her eyes, Bernadette cracking up. "Oh, that's funny. They sure are opposites, aren't they?"

"Pfft, you're telling me!" Penny smirked, clicking her tongue with a wink as she made a gun-firing motion with her hand, indicating that Bernadette had hit the nail on the head.

"You know, I think it'd be nice if we invited her to our girl's night…" The strawberry blond mused, Penny raising an eyebrow. "Hm? Oh, I wasn't sure if she was into the bar scene, that's the only reason I didn't invite her yet." She explained, Bernadette nodding. "Yeah, but even if she's not, we could always just find something else to do until it's time to crash. Even just watch a movie or something? I don't know, I just think it might be a nice break for her from being stuck in the apartment by herself or with Dr. Cooper all the time…

_·_

"_You know what, that's a great idea…"_

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><p><strong>[AN]**

That last filler chapter just wasn't doing it for me, and I felt like the main cast had been neglected a bit thus far, so I decided to take a break from Sienna and focus on them for a couple of filler chapters. (I know, filler filler filler... Unfortunately that's the best I can muster up during my insanely busy school/work schedule I've got going on)

Technically this is only "part one" because Chapter 7 will pick up right where this left off, albeit a small timeskip. :) I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!

Reviews are little baby penguin kisses! :D xoxo


	7. The 14th Amendment Adaptation (part 2)

_Soundtrack:_ _"Touch" by Mitis_

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><p><span><strong>PART TWO<strong>

_You know, it felt a bit like high school all over again._

Carefully combed strands of mahogany and balmy tan were slowly pulled taut as the hot plates of the straightener glided over Sienna's hair. Going with a natural look for make-up, all she had to do was finish straightening her hair, pull her bangs back into a twist on the side of her head with her feather clip, and grab her overnight bag. It had been years since she last had a sleepover with some girl friends, and it brought back a bunch of great memories from high school that made her feel excited.

Unplugging and turning off the straightener, a vibration in her pocket alerted her to a new text which she checked after fastening her hair clip. The message read: Heading over to Tim's Bar & Grill in 10, c u there!. Smiling at her phone, she replied 'Great, see you soon!' and flicked off the light switch in the bathroom before exiting with into the living room a quick stride.

Flinching at her startled yelp, Sheldon stumbled back a step as his blue eyes stared wide at her, the brunette clapping her hands over her mouth. "Sheldon!" Sienna lowered her hands, resting one on her chest, "Oh my God you gave me a heart attack... When did you get in?" She heaved a sigh in relief, resting her hands on her hips as Sheldon blinked a few times. "I gave you a heart attack? You're the one who came out of the bathroom like a booby-trap scene from Indiana Jones! Why are you in such an unnecessary hurry in my apartment?" He quirked his eyebrows at her, and the female laughed and shook her head, walking by him to get her purse off the couch and grab her keys from the coffee table. "I don't want to be late for our girl's get together tonight. Penny and Bernadette invited me." Her eyes lighted with her smile, and Sheldon found himself glancing away with a mumbled 'I see.'.

"Have a good night Sheldon, I'll be across the hall tonight and pop in in the morning." With a wave and a jingle of keys, the thin female was out the door. Sheldon eyed the doorknob as the lock click, the faded sound of footsteps falling reaching his ears. "Bye..."

"Sienna, over here!" Penny called, waving with a smile as Bernadette joined in the greeting. The girls all hugged their 'hello's and the brunette joined the blonds in their corner booth. "Okay so, you have _got_ to try the guacamole here. We always order it on the side with the chips and salsa, it is _so_ good!" Penny urged, patting Sienna's hand that was resting on the table, earning a laugh and a grin from her. "Sounds great! Did you guys already decide on entrees?" She asked, looking to Bernadette who shook her head. "Nah, they have a great happy hour here that applies to almost all the appetizers, so we usually just do family-style there and get some house margaritas!" The glasses-donning woman smiled, Sienna nodding. "Sounds like a plan!"

Penny proceeded to give Sienna a tour of the happy hour menu, showing her the different flavors they could do in the blended drinks, when a tall dark haired server came table side to greet them. "Evening, ladies!" He gave a pearly white grin that immediately grabbed Penny's attention, who nudged the girls' feet with her own under the table. "How we all doin' tonight?" The server named Adam, according to his name tag, asked politely as his hazel eyes caught the lowlight of the restaurant.

"Oh." Bernadette said in a hush, adjusting her glasses and realizing exactly what Penny meant. "We're good, how about yourself?" Sienna greeted casually, Penny smiling and resting her chin on her palm, elbow on the edge of the table. "Great, thanks! Can I get you ladies started with some drinks?" Adam clicked his pen and pulled out his notepad, Penny giving an enthusiastic yes before placing her order, followed by Bernadette and Sienna. All three went with the restaurant's famous house margarita, but opted for different flavors to be blended in. Next they placed a few happy hour appetizers for order, receiving a nod and a smooth quick jotting down from Adam's pen. "Sounds perfect! So we got any fun plans tonight?" He winked at Penny, who visibly looked happier from such behavior. "Why, yes! We are having a much needed girl's night, hosted by yours truly." Penny gestured to herself, resting her hand on her collar bone as Bernadette and Sienna nodded.

"Ah, no rowdy pillow fights, now! You don't want to make the neighbors jealous." He winked before leaving their table to put in their orders, Bernadette and Penny giggling girlishly while Sienna laughed in amusement at them. "Oh my God he was so hot!" Penny grabbed the happy hour menu and fanned herself with it, while Bernadette nervously removed her glasses to clean them. "Oh Penny, you should leave your number! My friend Andrea works here, and she's told me he's a very nice guy... but this was the first time I've seen him when I've come in." She mused in thought, replacing her glasses on her face.

Remaining quiet, Sienna just listened in amusement with a smile on her face, unrolling her silverware and draping her napkin across her lap. Oh yeah the guy was hot, she would give him that. But he wasn't really her type, as far as first impressions could tell. Sienna liked a pretty face per say, but she was more interested in the brain behind the charming smile and bedroom eyes. She had dealt with her fair share of pretty boys on campus, and learned pretty quickly that most of them were trouble makers, or had very little in common with her, or just wanted something casual. Since Sienna wasn't really into that, she just sort of avoided the dating scene; which wasn't too hard to do with her course load.

"Alright girls, so here's the plan for tonight. We got catch phrase, a huge collection of romcoms to browse, popcorn, and all the ingredients we need for some bomb pina coladas. So after this, do we want to just head to my place and get comfortable and kick it?" Penny asked as she looked between the girls, both nodding in approval. "That sounds great." Bernadette agreed, and Sienna opened her mouth to reply before being interrupted by their server who sneaked his sly quip in. "I'll bring the chocolate." He grinned, and Penny gasped and jokingly remarked "Oh my God I love you.", all four of the young adults busting up with a laugh.

"Just kidding." Adam smiled innocently, before gesturing to the happy hour menu. "Buuut we do have chocolate I can bring you after food, in the form of lava cake." He wiggled his eyebrows, and Penny turned the menu around to see the picture he was referring to, giving a coo in delight at the melty dark chocolatey goodness depicted on the menu. "We will definitely think about that!" She replied, and Adam nodded with a grin before he began setting down their drinks. "Awesome! Here's those margaritas ladies, and I've got the chips and salsa and guacamole here." He narrated as he placed the order on the table for them. "If there's anything else I can get for you, just let me know." The waiter smiled before tucking his now empty tray under his arm and departing from their table.

"I am so leaving him my number!" Penny said in a hushed tone as Bernadette rolled her eyes with a laugh, the girls all smiling in amusement. Taking a crunchy bite of the chips and guacamole, Sienna hummed an 'mmm' in delight as she nodded to Penny and Bernadette. They definitely were delicious! "Good choice guys!" She said, Bernadette taking a sip of her drink and Penny nodding as she swallowed her mouthful. "Oh yeah, that hits the spot."

They got a few good mouthfuls of the chips and guacamole down, before Penny decided to strike up a conversation. "Okay so, obviously Bernadette and Howard," here Penny stuck her tongue out in a 'blah' gesture, which earned a laugh from Bernadette, "are engaged, and we all know I'm single." Penny rolled her eyes, and Bernadette sweetly said 'oh, hush' to encourage her friend it wasn't a bad thing. "But what about you?" The blond smiled at Sienna, Bernadette leaning in with interest, the two sipping on their drink as they waited for her to answer.

Smiling with a light chuckle, Sienna gave her drink a stir, watching the streak of purple running through in a twist slowly blend in with the lime green tone of the margarita. Blackberry lime, it tasted bomb! She took a drink before answering. "Oh I'm single too, not really interested. I mean, I guess if I met someone interesting, but nah not as of yet." She mused, and Bernadette and Penny glanced at each other instantly with a mischievous gleam in their eyes. "Oh reeeally?" Penny mused, stabbing the pile of guacamole with another chip, happily chewing and swallowing the deliciousness down. "We just may have to do something about that!" She said with a chuckle.

Bernadette carefully decorated her chip with the dip and salsa, before putting in her two cents. "I can understand where you're at, though. The dating scene can get really tiring, and it seems like more and more guys just want to mess around." All of the women nodded in agreement, before Bernadette went on. "There's good guys out there of course! Some willing to commit, when the time is right... like my Howey. But it's important to be careful." "Mhm, preach it honey." Penny nodded, waving her chip in a pointing gesture to Bernadette to express her agreement. "I have been burned _sooo_ many times, you'd think I had learned by now." They all chuckled. "Oh that reminds me!" Penny began rummaging through her purse for a pen, which only made the girls laugh harder.

"Now now, he's not a trouble maker!" Bernadette assured, and in perfect timing too, because if she had said it two seconds later their server would have heard as he approached with the rest of their food. Setting down an order of buffalo wings, mozzarella sticks, and shrimp tempura salad, he gave them each an extra plate for sharing and Penny thanked him before beginning to dish out the food to everyone. "You ladies enjoy!" Adam said politely, before his coworker called him over to help find something in the computer.

"Anyway, there's nothing wrong with that." Bernadette assured Sienna, who nodded and smiled in thanks. "Yeah, I'm pretty content. It'd be nice to have the company and begin going in that direction with someone, just because I like to take things slow you know? Start as friends or whatever, but I'm not ready for anything too serious..." Her gaze looked almost distant as she thought back to some past memories, memories that held a faded sting thanks to the washing of time. "...and I don't want to get close to someone before I'm ready to be serious." She concluded her sentence with a bite of the wings that just made her feel like she had gone to heaven. "I cannot believe how good this food is when it's so cheap!" "Seriously, they have the best happy hour around!" Penny agreed with a grin.

_It seemed like this was the beginning of a wonderful evening of friendship._

* * *

><p><strong>[AN]**

I'm baaaaack~! :D I hope you're all happy to see me (and have put away the torches and pitchforks of rioting against my horrible abandonment of this story D: PLEASE forgive me!

I have wonderful news for you all, too! As thanks for your encouragement, patience, and loyalty to this fanfic, I will be uploading TWO chapters within one month! This chapter is a continuation of the previous one as far as the timeline goes, and the next one will be a bit of a timeskip. :) I've already started on the next chapter, so keep an eye out over the next few weeks for it! Enjoy my lovelies, and let me know what you think! I'm a bit rusty, so please pardon me if it shows. I need to get back into the swing of things. ;)


	8. The Deconstruction of a Formula

_Soundtrack: "One" Three Dog Night, "Lights" Ellie Goulding_

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><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

The Deconstruction of a Formula

.

_~ 1 Week Later ~_

_He wasn't going to claim he understood what he was seeing…_

Hair mussed up in his hands, this was a new side of him; and he wasn't ok with it. He let out a breath, one arm crossing across his chest, elbow resting atop it as he held his chin in thought, deep blue eyes taking in the image before him.

It baffled him. He didn't know how to take it apart, and it bothered him.

There was enough structure in it to hint at a formulaic design, but enough abstraction and emotion to confound his mathematical mind. He unknowingly took a step closer, fingers brushing the edge of it. There was so much texture, such a captivating combination that seemed to seep through the canvas and connect to something more…

He didn't know why, but it felt like he was peering through a window. The white primed fabric soaked with paint held a warmth somehow. 'But it's not possible…' He thought, brow furrowing slightly. It was an inanimate object! So why did it feel like he was looking at a fragment of life?

A piece of her soul…?

The door opening made him jump, Dr. Cooper pulling his hand back with a start as he looked to the front. "Oh!" He swallowed, able to control his reaction to some extent. "S-Sienna…" Slight tic setting in, restrained by his attempt to tame the small, twitching muscle in his neck and corner of his eye. "You left your materials all over the window sill, and the window was open, by the way." He began his usual run-down of the regulations the artist had missed.

The petite woman sighed, setting down the paper bags of groceries-that seemed much larger in her arms than they usually were in his-on the counter, before looking at him with a soft but warm smile. "I'm sorry, I had to leave in a hurry this morning."

He frowned, tilting his head as he looked down, walking over. "That's right…" He began, crossing his arms as he looked up to her again. "I consider my schedule to be an early one compared to most, yet you were gone when I began my routine. Was everything alright?"

She nodded, eyes looking distant a moment as she looked out the window. "Everything… is fine." Her smile seemed harder to bring to her face, but she was banking on his statistical mind failing to notice.

Something in him turned. 'Odd…' He thought. Something about her expression was unsettling to him, but logically speaking, it looked the same.

Her gaze was dull, icy hues subdued from having been pulled away from gazing out the window, the pale beams of November light pouring in. "Just thinking. It's hard to see the sunrise from the apartment, so I went for a drive."

He frowned at her. 'Huh… that's even more odd…' He tried to calculate what was going on, but lacked the data to process any conclusive information. "Just to look at the sky? It's only a combination of moisture and space, reflecting fractions of light to give it a blue hue…" He trailed off as Sienna seemed to wander away from him, almost looking through him. Her mind was absent. She gave a slight smirk and a 'heh' before looking down a moment, then proceeding to unpack her groceries.

.

Oh, how that infuriated him! It was like she could just turn off her mind when she wanted, or she was consumed with some profound revelation if you will, and refused to acknowledge the world around her and let anyone else in on it!

He never had a hard time understanding people when it came to a practical, intellectual level. There were many idiots in this world with simplistic minds that never took him more than a few seconds to pick apart. There were eccentric minds with strange behavioral patterns caused by medical disorders. They usually took him a few minutes to understand, granted he never went to med school, but give him an encyclopedia and he could usually translate their train of thought. There were the mathematical geniuses and colleagues of his time and times past. Their genius was sometimes hard to wrap his mind around at first, but the basic formulas to their behavior and interaction with others was something he could relate to.

But this one… This one, single mind… left him at a loss. He'd look at her, the behavioral patterns, the method of speech, and was left spinning out. When he watched her, he felt like he was staring at one of her painted canvases. Structured, yet off. Beautifully mysterious, and baffling.

A subtle twist in his gut caused a tic to tweak his facial expression. Sheldon Lee Cooper couldn't handle not knowing something.

His mind travelled back to the card trick that Howard had learned and tormented him with. 'I still can't figure that one out.' He mused, going over to his spot and sitting down, mind enveloped in thought, unaware of Sienna opening the window and sitting in a chair right up against it, hand tracing the ledge as she felt the breeze.

There was a science behind it all that he was unfamiliar with. Something he normally dismissed as a waste of time and money, now had him captivated. Art. To him, it served no truly useful purpose, but these pieces had somehow engaged him in a way he hadn't dealt with before.

His eyes slowly slid over to the person sitting by the window, her legs pulled up on the seat, making her figure slightly silhouetted by the light, framed by the open window.

His mind went blank, and pure images filled his senses. A cacophony of beauty and confusion, notes pulsing through his thoughts. He suddenly inhaled quickly through his nose, standing as he looked away.

"Well, then. If you're going to sit there like a perched parrot, be my guest. But don't expect me to be held responsible for the medical bills if you suddenly lose your equilibrium due to vertigo from such heights." A few drops of chilled sweat traced the back of his neck at the thought of rock climbing the height of their building, causing him to twitch.

He still regretted ever agreeing to doing such an activity with Stuart. The prodding jokes on the ride home of his appearance resembling that of a slain arachnid bent over backwards, hanging from it's own web… They were less than complimentary, to say the least.

"Mhmm…" She murmured in an absent-minded reply. Her tawny-streaked hair fluttered in the breeze, streams of tan and mahogany mingling in a visual representation of wind…

He swallowed. "Well alright then." His blue eyes darted to his laptop. It was about time he got to work.

_Wasn't Leonard supposed to be back by now?_

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><p><strong>[AN]**

Just as I promised, here is the next installment of the story within the same month! :D

I realize the last chapter has an incorrect post date, because I edited an "update" post, instead of deleting it first then uploading the last chapter. But anyway! I hope you enjoy this short but sweet addition. ;) I wanted to take some time to develop this dynamic of the plot.


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